Britain's second-largest cable firm Telewest said its net loss narrowed to £176 million in 2004, helped by cost cuts and a surging base of broadband Internet customers.

Telewest, which completed a long financial restructuring last year that left bondholders in control of the company, said it added 284,000 net broadband subscribers during the year, with 91,000 additions in the last quarter - its best to date.

Overall, net customer additions in the fourth quarter was the best in four years at 30,000 against 9,000 the previous year.

Telewest said the percentage of "triple-play" customers who receive TV, Internet and phone services rose to 27.4 per cent from 16.8 per cent in 2003 and it expected the trend to continue to grow in 2005.

"Telewest has never been this strong operationally and financially," acting chief executive Barry Elson said, adding that its net subscriber churn was significantly lower than its peers in the US and the UK.

Customer net additions were expected to be, at least, 20,000 in the first quarter of 2005, which Telewest said was likely to be above the 12,000 achieved in the year-earlier period, but it will probably be below the 30,000 achieved in the seasonally strong fourth quarter.